More commercial use sought for development off Robinwood Drive

October 17, 2011|By HEATHER KEELS | heather.keels@herald-mail.com

HAGERSTOWN — For the second time in 14 months, Washco Developments Inc. is seeking approval to increase the ratio of commercial use in a planned development off Robinwood Drive, further increasing the amount of traffic the project would generate.

Last September, the Washington County Commissioners voted to allow Washco to increase the percentage of commercial use in the Rosewood Village Development from 10 percent to 17.89 percent.

Now, the company is requesting another increase to 29.8 percent commercial use.

The request is to be the subject of a joint public hearing Tuesday evening by the commissioners and the Washington County Planning Commission.

Rosewood Village is on the west side of Robinwood Drive south of Hagerstown Community College.

According to a report by Timothy A. Lung, the county’s deputy director of plan review and permitting, the developer’s plans called for 35 town-house units along a street called O’Neal’s Place and 52 town-house units along a street called John F. Kennedy Drive. The developer now proposes to replace those town houses with two 48,000 square-foot buildings for “medical and/or office use and a small retail component as support of the medical/office use.”

Those buildings are estimated to generate 1,120 daily trips, compared to 522 daily trips that were projected from the town houses, according to a letter from applicant Mansoor Emral Shaool of Washco Developments.

Shaool’s son, Sassan Shaool, is on the county planning commission but has said he will not vote on projects in which he is involved. Sassan Shaool is president of Washco Developments.

In his application letter, Mansoor Shaool argued that several factors have contributed to a change in character of the area, including the relocation of the hospital, improvements to Robinwood Drive, the future development of Mount Aetna Farms, the second access planned for HCC and the future connection of Varsity Lane to Eastern Boulevard.

“All of these factors have a commercial trend: all of the surrounding properties to the east are designated commercial or institutional,” Mansoor Shaool wrote. “We believe that a commercial use for these properties will benefit the area and consolidate a commercial, business, medical corridor.”